Sneakers, Jeans And Rock Regular Fare At Sleep Out Louie's

It's Friday night, you're all dressed up (so you think) with someplace to go, and then you flunk the dress code at J.J. Whispers when the doorman spots your jeans and/or sneakers.

Ah, well. If you suddenly find yourself in the mood for a radical alternative to lounge-and-disco fare, you might head across the street to Sleep Out Louie's (843 Lee Road, Orlando). It is owned by Orlando businessman John Brown, who also has a controlling financial interest in Whispers. But be advised: Sleep Out Louie's is a jeans and sneakers kind of place -- the antithesis of Whispers in terms of atmosphere and entertainment.

From 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, Louie's is a family Italian restaurant. From 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, however, the back room of this fairly spacious establishment serves as a forum for local and out-of-town bands that play original music.

The back room -- Hoots -- serves up entertainment in the coffeehouse tradition of ''let them play what they want.'' What they play, or course, is rock 'n' roll.

The deal at Hoots is that its management does not pay the musicians to perform -- instead, the bands are at liberty to set and collect their own cover charges. ''It's a good place for new bands to get experience and exposure,'' says manager Dottie Dubuc. Likewise, Louie's is good for rock 'n' roll lovers who want to sample new or seldom-heard bands.

Groups such as East Egg, the Mix, 7,000 Gifts, Shades of Gray and the Walking Cliches often grace the Hoots stage. Some of these bands you might not have heard or heard about. That's because they are ''cover-tune resistant,'' meaning that they prefer playing their own material to playing renditions of Top 40 hits. These bands aren't hired by lounges that count on a rendition of REO Speedwagon's ''Can't Fight This Feeling'' or Madonna's ''Crazy for You'' three times a night. And, these bands are constantly in search of steady gigs. In fact, besides the somewhat smaller Decades in Winter Park, Louie's is just about it for homegrown rock 'n' roll.

But it's a pretty decent ''it.'' Louie's back room has a good-sized dance floor and plenty of dent-proof, plastic-veneer, four-seater booths and picnic tables. Such furnishings might seem a bit chain-restaurantish, but they are reasonably comfortable, virtually indestructible and lend themselves perfectly to Louie's back-room, bar-band environment. (Louie's, you might recall, occupies the former home of a Chuck E Cheese franchise.)

Speaking of atmosphere, my drinking companion, Miss J, couldn't take her eyes off the one incongruity in the decorating scheme -- the lobster traps, replete with captive plastic crustaceans, that hang from the ceiling. The traps, no doubt, are intended as reminders that Louie's and Hoots will someday open a raw bar to supplement their regular Italian menu, full bar, 75-cent draughts and $3 pitchers of beer. Dubuc couldn't say exactly when the shellfish operation would be going full steam.